Local Business Schema: What to Add and What It Does

Local business schema is code on your website that tells Google your business name, address, phone number, hours and departments. Google requires only the name and address. It says these details may appear in results such as a knowledge panel, but it promises no rich result, and its AI features need no special schema.

Smarter Revolution is a US team that builds AI into a company's real workflows and then runs it for them, and that work includes LLM Search Optimization. This guide is for the owner or web manager of a business with a public address, such as a contractor, an event venue, a manufacturer's plant or a brokerage office. It follows Google's LocalBusiness documentation, last updated September 8, 2026, and shows how to check your markup before it goes live.

What is local business schema?

Local business schema is structured data, in the schema.org vocabulary, that describes one business location in a fixed format search engines can read. Google's general structured data guidelines name JSON-LD as the recommended format, and the example below uses it.

Its job is narrow. Google's LocalBusiness page explains that when people search for a business on Search or Maps, results "may display a prominent Google knowledge panel with details about a business that matched the query." The markup lets you tell Google about your hours, departments and more. Treat it as an accurate description for Google's business results, not a ranking lever.

Which fields does Google require?

Google requires two properties for LocalBusiness markup: name and address. The address is a PostalAddress, which means the physical location split into parts such as street address, city, state, postal code and country. Without both, the markup is not eligible to show as a rich result. Eligible is not the same as shown. Google's documentation asks you to "Include as many properties as possible" in the address, and says that more detail gives users a higher quality result. Google also asks you to define each location as its own LocalBusiness. A contractor with offices in two towns therefore needs two blocks of markup, each with its own address, phone number and hours. The markup can sit on any page of the site. Google says it may make more sense on a page that contains information about your business, so a location or contact page is the natural home.

Which fields are worth adding?

Everything else is recommended. These fields matter most for local firms:

• telephone: the main number customers call. Google says to "include the country code and area code in the phone number."
• url: the full web address of the page for that specific location. Google says "The URL must be a working link."
• geo: the latitude and longitude of the location. Google says "The precision must be at least 5 decimal places."
• openingHoursSpecification: your hours, covered in the next section.
• department: parts of the business that keep their own hours or phone number.
• priceRange: a short text field for your relative price level. Google will not show it if the value runs to 100 characters or more. Our example leaves it out.
• review and aggregateRating: Google says these are "only recommended for sites that capture reviews about other local businesses" and a firm marking up its own testimonials is not that kind of site.

Which business type should you use?

Google asks you to "Use the most specific LocalBusiness sub-type possible" for each location. If the business does more than one kind of work, Google says to list the types as an array, and notes that additionalType is not supported for this. Its own example lists Electrician, Plumber and Locksmith for a single business. If no subtype describes the place well, we would use plain LocalBusiness rather than force a poor fit, because Google's general guidelines say "Your structured data must be a true representation of the page content."

How do you mark up hours, seasonal closures and departments?

Hours go in openingHoursSpecification. Each entry names days, an opening time and a closing time. Google's page covers the common cases:

• Regular hours: group the days that share the same hours into one entry. With no start or end date, Google reads the hours as valid all year.
• Hours past midnight: use a single entry that opens on one day and closes after midnight, such as an event venue open from 6 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m.
• Open or closed all day: set opens to 00:00 and closes to 23:59 for a full day. Set both to 00:00 for a day you are closed.
• Seasonal closures: add validFrom and validThrough dates in YYYY-MM-DD format, for example a holiday shutdown at a plant.
• Departments: add one department entry for each part of the business, and define in it the properties that differ from the main location, such as hours or phone number. Google asks for the name in the format "{store name} {department name}", unless the department has its own brand.

If calls come in after your published hours, our guide to an AI receptionist for contractors covers what an answering system can and cannot handle.

What does the markup look like?

Here is an example for a made-up contractor, Example Electric and Plumbing. The business name, street, phone number and web address are invented. The last hours entry closes the office for a holiday break. The block goes inside a script tag of type application/ld+json on the location's page.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": ["Electrician", "Plumber"],
  "name": "Example Electric and Plumbing",
  "url": "https://www.example.com/locations/austin",
  "telephone": "+1-512-555-0142",
  "address": {
    "@type": "PostalAddress",
    "streetAddress": "100 Sample Road",
    "addressLocality": "Austin",
    "addressRegion": "TX",
    "postalCode": "78701",
    "addressCountry": "US"
  },
  "geo": {
    "@type": "GeoCoordinates",
    "latitude": 30.26715,
    "longitude": -97.74306
  },
  "openingHoursSpecification": [
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
      "opens": "07:00",
      "closes": "17:00"
    },
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "dayOfWeek": "Saturday",
      "opens": "08:00",
      "closes": "12:00"
    },
    {
      "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
      "opens": "00:00",
      "closes": "00:00",
      "validFrom": "2026-12-24",
      "validThrough": "2026-12-26"
    }
  ]
}

How do you test it before launch?

Google's LocalBusiness page sets out the order:

• Validate the code with Google's Rich Results Test and fix any critical errors.
• Publish a few pages first and use the URL Inspection tool to see how Google sees them. Make sure no robots.txt rule, noindex tag or login blocks the page.
• Ask Google to recrawl once the pages look right. Google warns that "it may take several days after publishing a page for Google to find and crawl it."
• Submit a sitemap so Google hears about later changes.
• Match the page. Google's general guidelines say "Don't mark up content that is not visible to readers of the page."

A clean test is not a promise. The same guidelines say: "Google does not guarantee that your structured data will show up in search results, even if your page is marked up correctly according to the Rich Results Test." If you are moving to a new site, carry the markup across and test it again after launch. Our guide to website redesign SEO covers the rest of that move.

Does schema help with AI Overviews?

No special markup is needed. Google's AI features page, last updated December 10, 2025, says: "There's also no special schema.org structured data that you need to add." It also says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode. A page needs to be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet.

What the page does ask is that existing markup be accurate. It lists making sure "your structured data matches the visible text on the page" among the SEO basics that remain worthwhile. So LocalBusiness markup is for Google's business results. It is not a separate route into AI answers. To see how often your pages showed in Google's AI features, read our guide to AI Overviews in Search Console.

How does schema fit with your Google Business Profile?

They are two separate places where your business details live. Google's AI features page lists keeping your Business Profile information up to date among the basics that still apply. Our advice is to keep one set of facts. The name, address, phone number and hours should read the same in your Business Profile, on the page and in the markup. When holiday hours change, update all three on the same day.

How does Smarter Revolution handle schema?

Schema is part of two of our services. LLM Search Optimization starts with an audit that includes a review of your structured data. When we rebuild a site through Website Modernization, schema is moved across deliberately and wired up before the domain switches over. We do not promise rich results or rankings.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use a plugin to add local business schema?

If your site runs on a content management system, often yes. Google's LocalBusiness page says "It may be easier to use a plugin that's integrated into your CMS." Either way, test the output in the Rich Results Test before launch.

Can I list more than one type of service?

Yes. Google says to list multiple types as an array, and its own example names Electrician, Plumber and Locksmith for one business. The additionalType property is not supported for this.

Should I mark up reviews of my own business?

Google limits its review and rating advice to sites that collect reviews of other local businesses. A contractor or venue posting its own customer testimonials is not that kind of site. Leave those properties out.

What happens if my markup breaks Google's guidelines?

Google may issue a manual action. Its general guidelines say this costs the page its eligibility for rich results, and "it doesn't affect how the page ranks in Google web search." Fix the problem, then ask Google to reconsider.

The bottom line

Local business schema gives Google the facts about each place you do business. Add name and address, then phone, page address, coordinates and hours. Keep every value in line with the page and your Business Profile, and test before and after launch. It feeds Google's business results with no promise of a rich result, and AI features need no special schema. Google updates these pages, so check them again before you rely on any detail.

If you want a second view on your site's structured data, a free 30-minute scoping call comes first, and you then get the exact scope in writing. We charge one fixed price to build your system and one monthly fee to run and improve it, both agreed in writing before work starts. Timelines run in weeks, not quarters, and the count starts once we have the access and approvals we need. To talk it through, book a call.

Sources

• Google Search Central, "Local business (LocalBusiness) structured data", last updated September 8, 2026, opened November 12, 2026: developers.google.com
• Google Search Central, "General structured data guidelines", last updated July 10, 2026, opened November 12, 2026: developers.google.com
• Google Search Central, "AI features and your website", last updated December 10, 2025, opened November 12, 2026: developers.google.com